Mattel's Mega Brands Acquisition Will Help it Compete With Lego

Mattel has announced plans to acquire Mega Brands in a $460 million deal. Mega Brands is known for its Mega Bloks building toys. The acquisition is seen as Mattel challenging Lego. It comes after Lego's The Lego Movie has been huge in theaters and has claimed the box office for three straight weekends.

Mega Bloks has licenses with Halo, Skylanders, Hello Kitty, SpongeBob SquarePants, Power Rangers and others for construction sets. Mega Brands also has an arts & crafts business, with brands including Rose Arts and Board Dudes.

Bryan G. stockton, Mattel chairman and ceo, says in the announcement, "A key pillar of our global growth strategy is the strategic acquisition of brands that will both benefit from our scale and help extend our reach into new and growing categories. The construction play pattern is popular, universal and has had one of the fastest growth rates over the past three years. We look forward to helping MEGA Brands accelerate its global growth, providing more choices for more children and their families."